Describe the situation here: A student is on the edge of getting her first B, in like forever, and she comes to class crying and VERY upset! She has an 89.45% on her progress report, grades have not yet been given out. Basically she does NOT want a B.
Understanding the Situation
a. What might be some underlying causes of the situation that you need to think about?
- she has high expectations for herself
- unspecified percent to grade linkage
- Pressure from parents or other sources i.e. valedictorian possibility?
- Distractions from her work for that marking period?
b. Are there resources within your school that might be of help? If so who and what questions should you ask them?
- Guidance counselor may know about issues with expectations and/or distractions
- Other teachers...how is she doing in their classes? Or what would they do in that situation?
c. Are there other resources that might be helpful?
- Perhaps the parents could serve as a resource.
A Solution
As a teacher, you will often try to address problems by preventing them. That said, things happen in classrooms that cannot be anticipated beforehand and you will have to make decisions about how to address the situation.
In this section, be sure to:
a. Decide whether your action is proactive (action aimed at preventing problem) or reactive (action occurs after situation develops).
- As a proactive measure. In the syllabus a grading scale would be clearly laid out and the rounding situation would be very specific.
- However, as a more secretive reactive measure, the teacher could consider allowing the student to "borrow" a certain percentage from the next marking period. In order to make this fair however, all students who would fall into this borderline would need to be given this opportunity.
- Also as a proactive approach, keeping students informed of their grade status throughout the term is a must.
- Another reactive possibility would be to sit down with the student and look at his/her work and seeing where she can improve for future terms.
b. Decide what grade level you will "solve" this problem for.\
- High School
c. Describe what you'll do.
- See part a.
d. Describe how you anticipate your action(s) will affect the situation.
- Using the first two actions in conjunction with one another, the student would gladly choose to borrow from the next term, knowing she would need to work harder, and allow her to qualify for that A- she's seeking. Hopefully bringing the tear tantrum to an end.
Solution Consequences
Before you act to address a classroom situation, you have to anticipate possible consequences of your actions.
Use this section to spell out some of these effects:
a. How will you action be perceived by your students?
- Students may not feel it is fair to increase one student's grade.
b. How will your action affect the learning climate in your classroom?
-
c. What might your students learn from your action? (Be sure to note both positive and negative lessons.)
- The students will learn that we care about them as human beings, and are not very cruel.
- Students who seek the higher grade will think that complaining can get them what they want in life.
d. How will your students' parents react to their child's account of your action? (Remember that they will put their own "spin" on what you do.)
- The parents would not likely object to giving the student a higher grade, but may not like it at the expense of their next ter
The Situation
Describe the situation here: A student is on the edge of getting her first B, in like forever, and she comes to class crying and VERY upset! She has an 89.45% on her progress report, grades have not yet been given out. Basically she does NOT want a B.
Understanding the Situation
a. What might be some underlying causes of the situation that you need to think about?
- she has high expectations for herself
- unspecified percent to grade linkage
- Pressure from parents or other sources i.e. valedictorian possibility?
- Distractions from her work for that marking period?
b. Are there resources within your school that might be of help? If so who and what questions should you ask them?
- Guidance counselor may know about issues with expectations and/or distractions
- Other teachers...how is she doing in their classes? Or what would they do in that situation?
c. Are there other resources that might be helpful?
- Perhaps the parents could serve as a resource.
A Solution
As a teacher, you will often try to address problems by preventing them. That said, things happen in classrooms that cannot be anticipated beforehand and you will have to make decisions about how to address the situation.
In this section, be sure to:
a. Decide whether your action is proactive (action aimed at preventing problem) or reactive (action occurs after situation develops).
- As a proactive measure. In the syllabus a grading scale would be clearly laid out and the rounding situation would be very specific.
- However, as a more secretive reactive measure, the teacher could consider allowing the student to "borrow" a certain percentage from the next marking period. In order to make this fair however, all students who would fall into this borderline would need to be given this opportunity.
- Also as a proactive approach, keeping students informed of their grade status throughout the term is a must.
- Another reactive possibility would be to sit down with the student and look at his/her work and seeing where she can improve for future terms.
b. Decide what grade level you will "solve" this problem for.\
- High School
c. Describe what you'll do.
- See part a.
d. Describe how you anticipate your action(s) will affect the situation.
- Using the first two actions in conjunction with one another, the student would gladly choose to borrow from the next term, knowing she would need to work harder, and allow her to qualify for that A- she's seeking. Hopefully bringing the tear tantrum to an end.
Solution Consequences
Before you act to address a classroom situation, you have to anticipate possible consequences of your actions.
Use this section to spell out some of these effects:
a. How will you action be perceived by your students?
- Students may not feel it is fair to increase one student's grade.
b. How will your action affect the learning climate in your classroom?
-
c. What might your students learn from your action? (Be sure to note both positive and negative lessons.)
- The students will learn that we care about them as human beings, and are not very cruel.
- Students who seek the higher grade will think that complaining can get them what they want in life.
d. How will your students' parents react to their child's account of your action? (Remember that they will put their own "spin" on what you do.)
- The parents would not likely object to giving the student a higher grade, but may not like it at the expense of their next ter